Supernatural Friday: The Iroquois Legend of The Great Bear Changing Leaves Color at Autumn

In this version of a popular Iroquois legend, we learn how the autumn leaves get their color.

A hunter found the tracks of a great bear. Not long afterwards, more tracks of this bear were discovered, surrounding the village.  Other animals, many hunted by the tribe for food, began to disappear. The hunters determined that the great bear was responsible for their loss.

Hungry due to their main source of food depleted, a party of warriors set out to kill the bear. After following the tracks for many days, they came upon the bear. They shot arrows at the animal, but to no avail. The bear’s skin was too thick for the arrows to pierce it. And instead, the assault angered the bear, and he turned on the warriors, killing most of them.

The surviving warriors returned to the village to tell their tale. Party after party of warriors went out to try to slay the great bear, and failed. The people were starving and afraid to leave their village, which the great bear would circle each night.

One night three brothers had the same dream that recurred for three nights. In the dream, they saw a vision of themselves tracking and killing the monster. Thinking it held the truth, they went to track and kill the bear.

They followed the bear’s tracks for many days until they came to the end of the earth. The monstrous bear bounded from the earth into the heavens. The brothers pursued it into the sky. To this day, the three hunters are still visible, chasing the bear in the winter nights’ sky.

In the fall, as the bear readies for its winter’s sleep, the three hunters are able to draw near enough to shoot their arrows into the bear’s body. His blood drips from the skies onto the autumn leaves, painting them red and yellow.

The arrows never kill the great bear; and he always escapes. His wounds cause him to become invisible for a time, but eventually, he reappears in the skies as the Big Dipper, the three brothers still chasing him.

Supernatural Friday: Autumn is a Many-Colored Story

Autumn days come quickly, like the running of a hound on the moor. - Irish proverb

Autumn is  dressed up in her best gown of many colors, prepared to dance in celebration. ~ Pamela K. Kinney

Fall is almost here. On Wednesday, September 23, at 4:21 a.m. (EDT).   On the autumnal equinox, day and night are each about 12 hours long (in the Northern Hemisphere, occurring a few days after the autumnal equinox).

The word equinox means "equal night." This occurs two times each year: Vernal in late March and Autumnal in late September. Another definition of fall is nights of below-freezing temperatures combined with days of temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So summer loving people, it does not mean pool weather. 

Some autumn folklore:

The sound of trees snapping and cracking in the autumn indicate dry weather.

If, in the fall of the leaves in October, many of them wither on the boughs and hang there, it betokens a frosty winter and much snow. Not so.  It more likely indicate that your area may not have enough rain and wind to shake those little buggers off.

It is said that spring rain damps and autumn rain soaks. No, as even n summer and winter, rain comes down hard or light. Same goes for fall and spring.

The autumn or fall season is the traditional harvest time for most Native American tribes, and autumn is associated with the corn goddess in many east coast tribes. Spiritually, autumn is considered a symbol of change in many North American tribes. The Pueblo Indians and some California tribes such as the Hupa hold special Autumn Dances as part of their tribal dance traditions, and the Hopi have traditionally considered autumn a favorable time of year for weddings.

Fox tale of why leaves turn in autumn:

At the beginning of the season of snow, just after the first fall of snow, three men hunted for game one early morning.  They trailed a bear in thick bush on a hillside. One of the men too of running into the brush.

"The bear is racing away towards the place of the noon day sun! Where the cold comes from." he shouted to his companions. 

Between all of them, they kept the bear fleeing. With them was the little dog owned bu one of the men, who went by the name, Hold-Tight of River-that-joins-Another. They say that after a while the first man who pursued the bear looked down at the ground. Green of the surface of the earth was below them. They all realized they had chased the bear up into the sky.

"O River-that-joins-Another, let us go back! We are being carried up into the sky!"

Keeping up the chase, they overtook the bear in the autumn and slew it. After they had slain it, they cut boughs of the oak and boughs of sumac, and laid the bear on top of the leaves. They flayed and cut up the bear; afterwards they slung and scattered the meat in every direction. Towards the coming of the morning they flung the head. It is said in the winter- when the morning is about to appear, some stars usually rise and that they came from the head of the bear. And the men flung his backbone towards the place of the morning. Stars huddled close together is said that they came from the backbone. 

These four stars in the lead were the bear, and the three stars at the rear were the men who hunted the bear, and between two of them is a tiny little star, the little dog, Hold-Tight of River-that-joins-Another. 

After that, every autumn the leaves of oaks and sumac redden because it the hunters had placed the bear on top of the leaves and cut it up, turning the leaves red from the blood.

What do you love about the season of autumn? Leave a comment.

 

Welcome Autumn

Welcome Autumn by Pamela K. Kinney 

(copyrighted, so share link of blog, not take the poem itself)

Cooler temps in the breeze,
Smoky odor of bonfires tickling the nose
Swirling carousel of colorful leaves,
pumpkins layering country fields
Halloween decorations spilling off
store shelves
Time for that pumpkin spice latte,
Hot and flavorful
Then kick back in a chair
on the porch
Enjoying the it all,
Autumn's spectacular show.